Red Wine Sauce
Submitted by micbus
Red wine sauce for salmon built from salmon bones, cognac, mirepoix, and shallot puree with a double-reduction technique. A restaurant-quality fish sauce with rich, concentrated flavor.
YIELD
2 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
20 minREADY
40 minThis is a serious red wine sauce built from the ground up with salmon bones, cognac, mirepoix, and a shallot puree, then reduced twice across two pans for deep, concentrated flavor. It’s the kind of sauce you’d find at a fine dining spot in San Francisco, and it takes real technique to pull off.
The two-pan method is what makes it special. One pan extracts flavor from the salmon bones and fish stock while the other reduces red wine with aromatics until nearly dry. Combining the strained liquids and reducing again builds layers of richness that a single-pot approach simply can’t match.
Finishing with cold butter whisked in at the end (a classic monter au beurre) gives the sauce its glossy, velvety body.
Pro Tips
- Ask your fishmonger for salmon bones. They’re usually free or very cheap, and they’re essential for the depth of this sauce.
- When you flame the cognac, tilt the pan away from you and let the alcohol burn off completely before proceeding.
- Reduce the second pan slowly over medium heat. Rushing it on high heat can scorch the shallots and wine, leaving a bitter edge.
- Whisk in the finishing butter off the heat or over very low flame. Too much heat breaks the emulsion and the sauce turns greasy.
Variations
- Use this sauce over pan-seared halibut, swordfish, or tuna steaks.
- Substitute brandy for cognac if that’s what you have on hand.
- Add a splash of balsamic vinegar at the end for a slightly sweet, tangy finish.
Ingredients
Directions
In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil.
Add the salmon bones to the pan and sauté for about 1 minute.
Add butter (about 2 tablespoons), 1 cup mirepoix, 2 bay leaves, ¼ teaspoon of thyme, ¼ teaspoon of peppercorns, and 2 tablespoons of the shallot puree.
Add cognac and flame.
Deglaze with 1 cup of red wine and cook over high heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a second sauté pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter.
Add 2 tablespoons shallot purée, 1 cup mirepoix, 2 bay leaves, ¼ teaspoon peppercorns, ¼ teaspoon oregano, ¼ teaspoon thyme, and 3 cups of red wine.
Reduce over medium heat to dry.
Add 1 cup fish stock to sauté pan with salmon bones.
Cook about 5 minutes.
Deglaze reduction (shallot-red wine) in the second sauté pan with about 3 cups of strained liquid from the first sauté pan (salmon bones and fish stock).
Reduce ingredients in second saucepan by two-thirds (not dry).
Add remainder of the butter, whisk, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Strain and reserve.
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